“That doesn’t mean I have to join them. They just want to boost up their stupid pack, too, because they have to have everything under control, and because they’re up to their necks in water with the other species!”

My father was silent. Because I was right. Nickolas’ men were nothing but a kind of weapon against the Circle, the Councils or the DeLoughrey clan. 

I would stay away from these senseless feuds. At nineteen, my father could no longer tell me what to do. His bad luck, Nickolas' unexpected luck. I would make their lives hell if they didn’t stop soon, and I would show them that I couldn’t be put in a pack full of good dogs. That was not my world.

Determined, I jumped up and went to the door to make my way past my father. He stood in my way.

I stared at him with a challenging look. 

He would not win this fight.

“Please, Julian, at least think about it. You are a serious danger to yourself and others here.”

I clenched my hands into fists and tightened my jaw.

How could my father just keep hitting the bull’s eye? The thought that something might happen to Mia was finally killing me.

Without hesitation, I pushed him aside and sprinted down the white wooden stairs to the porch door. 

I had to get out of here. And I had to do it fast. Before my father’s words came true and I hurt someone else.

Hastily, I took a leap off the porch and landed on the muddy ground in front of our backyard.

With a dry throat, I ran and quickly jumped over the garden fence, rushing further into the forest.

My father had moved here, especially because of the location near the forest. Away from the pack and yet a little more distant from the city center.

I actually liked it here; however, this would change from next week on. I would no longer be able to just walk around without smelling them all.

My steps quickened. I wanted to get rid of all these thoughts and forget why I was always running away in the first place. I had been running all the last years, but it had done me no good. Again and again, the same problems stood in my way. It was still the same shadows that pursued me.

A sound that must have come from the undergrowth made me stop. Immediately, all my senses were sharpened to the utmost, and I looked around. But I could neither see nor hear anything unfamiliar.

A strong, rotten smell, unknown to me, was in my nose, and I could not help but pull my T-shirt over my nose.

Had I been here before? How far had I run?

As I continued to look around, I realized that I had ended up in a very dark part of the forest. I had to be far from the center of town. Anyway, I didn’t hear any more cars in the distance, and it was very quiet. 

I enjoyed silence. But it was too quiet. Something was not right here.

Where were all the animals that were usually here in masses? There was not even a bird to hear. Over three kilometers...

The forest here would have been the ideal hunting ground if it weren’t for the Blairs’ rules.

But this place was different. It felt abandoned. Dead.

A feeling deep in my chest told me to go after it, to look for what I had just heard. However, dawn was already setting in, and Dad didn’t want me to be out here on the border of Fogs Forest at this hour.

While I had never listened to him or my worried sister because it had been nonsense and I could take good care of myself, I didn’t want to disappoint them after this morning’s disaster. 

My father’s words reached my ear. 

“Don’t go too deep into that forest.”

Quietly, I continued to look around. The dark thicket seemed denser to me now, and it was almost impossible for the sun to get through here. Moss grew everywhere, and the ground was also overgrown.

I turned around and started running. Not a second longer did I want to stay in this dead, silent place where not even an animal dared to go. 

Only this strange sound would not leave me alone. It was still in my head, and I couldn’t remember ever having smelled anything like it before.

I drew in the air, but it was no longer there.

Whatever had been there was gone and had taken its stench with it.

Chapter 9

Bayla

It was not a piano that gently woke me from sleep this morning.... No, quite the opposite. It was my mum rushing through the door of my room, shouting “Happy Birthday, my little angel!” and violently pulling me out of my dreams of California.

I had rarely slept so well. Especially not in this torture bed. 

Now I was awake, and my head was buzzing.

“Get up, Bay, it’s already 9 o’clock and there’s more than one cake waiting for you downstairs,” Mum chirped cheerfully before she went to the window and sweepingly tore away the curtain. 

I rarely experienced so much élan from her...

“Oh God, your window is still open. You do realize it’s only 8 degrees outside?”

Indeed, it was very chilly in my room. I had noticed that, especially in the mornings, the temperatures were way down and that you couldn’t walk around outside with a T-shirt like in the middle of the day.

I missed California very much. And I was in Blairville. Unfortunately.

When I eventually managed to sit up, Mum came over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“My big girl.” She smiled at me before pressing a kiss to my cheek, rising again and hurrying to the door. “Please hurry up and put on some proper clothes.” 

Then she was gone.

She hadn’t even given me time to complain. I didn’t particularly enjoy being the center of attention. And certainly not for a whole day.

Groaning, I moved to the other side of the bed, about to get to my closet. 

The massive door was still open, as it always was because I was literally too lazy to close my closets again and again. This applied to my entire room as well.

Speaking of which... What was proper in Mum’s opinion? Was she going somewhere with me? Not really, as far as I knew, unless there were some plans, she was keeping from me again.